Ron Washington Calls Angels Rookie 'Very Impressive' In Losing Effort

Washington still saw good in his start.

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz impressed Angels manager Ron Washington despite a shaky first inning to his start on Thursday.

During the 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers, Kochanowicz gave up a three-run home run to Adolis García in the first inning on a sinker. Following that home run, Kochanowicz rebounded and did not give up another run over his next five innings.

“After that, he settled in,” Washington said, via Stefan Stevenson of the Orange County Register. “He didn’t have his best sinker tonight, but he grew tonight because he learned to battle without his best stuff. That’s what you have to do when things are not working the way you want them to work. So he was very impressive in the way he handled his innings.”

Kochanowicz finished the game allowing eight hits, the three earned runs, and one walk. The rest of his start allowed the Angels to stay in the game, but the lineup did not provide enough run support for the Angels to come back.

“The name of my game is just to stay down [in the zone], so once I made that adjustment, it was a lot different,” Kochanowicz said. “[The sinker to Garcia] found just too much plate. Very good hitter, obviously, a really quick bat, so too much plate.”

The primary area Kochanowicz didn't improve upon compared to his previous start: striking out batters. Kochanowicz finished the game with zero strikeouts, the second start this season in which he has finished without striking out a batter. He tied his game-high of four strikeouts in his start prior, but was unable to complete a strikeout in this game.

Over seven starts this season since making his debut in July, Kochanowicz is 2-4 with a 4.89 ERA. He's pitched 38.2 innings, allowing 21 earned runs while striking out 12 and walking eight. He has just a 1.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Prior to making his MLB debut this season, Kochanowicz started 18 games for the Rocket City Trash Pandas, where he went 5-8 with a 4.50 ERA while striking out 86. He did not appear in Triple-A before getting promoted.

With an average of 1.71 strikeouts per start, Kochanowicz projects to strike out 51 batters in a 30-start season. For comparison's sake, the fewest strikeouts in a season by a qualified pitcher since 2000 is Nate Cornejo of the Detroit Tigers, who struck out 46 batters in 32 starts in 2003.